20 Facts About Marguerite Bourgeoys

Marguerite Bourgeoys was recruited by the governor of Montreal to set up a convent in New France, and she sailed to Fort Ville-Marie by 1653.

Marguerite Bourgeoys is significant for developing one of the first uncloistered religious communities in the Catholic Church.

Marguerite Bourgeoys decided at about age 15 to join the sodality affiliated with the congregation.

The governor invited Marguerite Bourgeoys to come to Canada and start a school in Ville-Marie.

Marguerite Bourgeoys set sail on the Saint-Nicholas from France, along with approximately 100 other colonists, mostly men.

Marguerite Bourgeoys declined the offer and spent her stay in Quebec living alongside poor settlers.

The colony was so small that Marguerite Bourgeoys would have soon come to know practically everyone.

Marguerite Bourgeoys combined this goal with housing and caring for the King's Daughters or filles du roi, as they are known in Quebec, after they arrived from France.

In 1669, Marguerite Bourgeoys had an audience with Francois de Laval, the Apostolic Vicar of New France and its highest religious authority.

Marguerite Bourgeoys ultimately issued an ordinance that gave permission to the Congregation Notre-Dame to teach on the entire island of Montreal, as well as anywhere else in the colony that considered their services as necessary.

In 1670 Marguerite Bourgeoys returned to France again, seeking an audience with the King to protect her community from being cloistered.

Marguerite Bourgeoys left with no money or clothing, only with a letter of recommendation by Jean Talon, Royal Intendant of the colony; he praised her great contribution to its future.

Marguerite Bourgeoys established a boarding school at Ville-Marie, so that girls of more affluent area families would not have to travel to Quebec for their education.

Marguerite Bourgeoys established a school devoted to needle-work and other practical, artisan occupations for women in Pointe-Saint-Charles.

In 1678, Marguerite Bourgeoys reached out to Catholic Native communities, setting up a small school in Kahnawake, the mission village south of Montreal.

The new bishop in the colony, Jean-Baptiste De La Croix de Saint-Vallier, was impressed with the vocational school that Marguerite Bourgeoys had established in Ville-Marie and worked with her to found a similar institution in Quebec.

Marguerite Bourgeoys gave up daily leadership, but worked to help her sisters retain their characteristic spirit.

The elderly Sister Marguerite Bourgeoys was said to have offered her life to God in order to save that of a younger member of the Congregation who had fallen ill.

Marguerite Bourgeoys's body was kept by the parish of Ville-Marie, but her heart was removed and preserved as a relic by the Congregation.

Marguerite Bourgeoys was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1982, and is the first female saint of Canada.